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Claudia Colby
Claudia Colby is the owner of Weatherfield hair salon Perm Suspect, a close acquaintance of Audrey Roberts and the former partner of widower Marc Selby. Biography Unknown-2011: Keeping up appearances At some point Claudia began working as a hairdresser and eventually opened her own salon, Perm Suspect. Due to being in the same industry Claudia befriended Audrey Roberts, however the two became business rivals in their professional lives. In December 2009, Claudia attended a Weatherfield Council Christmas lunch, escorted by Lewis Archer - whom she often hired for such functions. Audrey, who also attended the lunch, was shocked to find Claudia using a male escort - but Claudia defended herself by saying that Lewis was strictly for appearances sake, with no sex involved. Audrey, who became enticed by Claudia's explanation, began to latch onto the idea of using a male escort herself and eventually hired Lewis' services on a couple of occasions. In April 2010, Claudia and Audrey attended a dinner dance together where they saw Lewis escorting Rita Sullivan. Audrey admitted to Claudia that she had used Lewis' services several times, and had fallen for him - but Claudia assured her that Lewis' charms were nothing more than contractual. Despite this, Audrey and Lewis embarked on a relationship together. Claudia's doubts about Lewis' reliability as a permanent suitor for her friend were proved to be correct as, in July of the same year, when Audrey and Lewis began to plan their retirement to run a hotel in Greece, he vanished on the day of their departure leaving Audrey devastated. As a result of Lewis' departure the farewell party, thrown for the couple by Audrey's daughter Gail, was thrown into chaos when CCTV footage of Lewis stealing from the till of Barlow's Bookies was revealed to everyone by Peter Barlow. The footage also included Lewis' attempt to divert the assistant manager Deirdre Barlow's attention by kissing her. At the tail end of 2010, Claudia donated a prize of luxury treatment at her salon to a special New Year's Eve charity raffle held by the Rovers. The prize was won by a disgruntled Audrey, who had already had her nose put out of joint after her donation of a pedicure and manicure at her own salon was somewhat dwarfed by Claudia's generosity. At the start of 2011, Claudia embarked on a relationship with Marc Selby, a widower and local wine-dealer whose late wife Tricia had been a regular customer at Perm Suspect. However, their relationship turned sour when he began cancelling their dates, giving the excuse of "business meetings". Claudia, worried that Marc was having an affair, persuaded Audrey to spy on him on the evening of yet another cancelled date. They were both stunned to discover what they thought was a woman leaving Marc's house. After confronting him with the discovery, Marc told Claudia that the "woman" was his sister. The truth was uncovered when Audrey made a startling discovery. A shaken Marc phoned her to pick him up from Weatherfield Police Station - he had been mugged because he was dressed as a woman. Marc admitted he was a transvestite but swore Audrey to secrecy. Although she obliged, she was desperate for Marc to come to terms with who he was and assured him that Claudia would be nothing but understanding. Claudia eventually discovered the truth too and was appalled at both Audrey's "lack of friendship" and Marc's transvestism, calling him a "freak". She walked out on the couple, telling Audrey that their friendship was over. 2011-2018: Continued rivalry with Audrey Claudia and Audrey eventually reconciled sometime after her departure from the street and the pair continued their business rivalry - with Audrey feeling betrayed when Rita went to Claudia's salon instead of hers in 2012. However, Audrey was pleased when Rita complained about the loud music being played at Perm Suspect and commented that the only reason she did so was because Audrey had been fully booked. In July 2015, Audrey spent her 75th birthday having a liquid lunch with Claudia and getting drunk, making her unable to attend her birthday party at Nick's Bistro, and in September 2016 Claudia won the Stylists' Awards, although a disappointed Audrey put it down to her giving the judge free blow dries at her salon. Claudia and Audrey also attended a course on "The future of hairdressing in the digital age" in February 2018. 2018-: Business expansion In July 2018, Claudia returned to the street to pay Audrey a visit and wasted no time in bragging about the planned expansion of her business. With Audrey uninterested, already worrying about how her own salon would cope with the departure of her best stylist Maria Connor, Claudia began explaining her plans more thoroughly to Maria herself. Revealing that she planned to open to more shops to accompany the one she already owns, Claudia suggested that Maria could run one of the shops - initially hesitant, Maria eventually agreed. Needing money, Maria asked Carla Connor to become an investor in the business - Carla accepted with the conditions that she would need to see some figures and that she would be a sleeping partner in the business. Claudia and Carla rubbed each other up the wrong way, with Claudia having no time for Carla's business etiquette and eventually Carla decided to end her investment after regaining the control of Underworld. Having come into some money, and discovering that Maria needed urgent funds to pay Claudia, Rita agreed to become an investor - much to both Claudia and Maria's delight. In August, Claudia was shocked to discover Lewis Archer's return - and even more surprised that Audrey was once again heading into a relationship with him. Despite still having doubts about the pair's longevity, Claudia agreed to keep quiet about their secret love affair - although the truth later came out. Background information *Actress Rula Lenska joined the cast of Coronation Street in October 2009, and Claudia's scenes were first aired in December 2009. This was a one-off appearance, and the character later returned in April of the next year to continue on the role. *It was rumoured in December 2010 that Claudia would take over from Liz McDonald as the landlady of the Rovers Return when Beverley Callard left the show. However, producer Phil Collinson later insisted that the rumours were false. *In May 2011, it was announced that Lenska was to leave the serial in order to appear in theatre. Due to being a popular character the decision was made to "leave the door open" for a possible return in the future. *On 20th March 2018, it was announced that Lenska would be returning to the programme after a seven year absence, which would involve a storyline with Audrey. The announcement was made alongside the return of Nigel Havers as Lewis Archer, however it was revealed that the pair would be involved in two different storylines. The character returned in July 2018. List of appearances 2009 2010 2011 2018 Category:Coronation Street characters Category:2009 minor characters Category:2010 minor characters Category:2011 minor characters Category:Hairdressers Category:2018 minor characters